The Curator and the Director of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) are pleased to invite you, also on behalf of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI), to the festive opening of the fourth edition of the Architecture Biennale in the NAI in Rotterdam on Thursday 24 September, 2009, from 4:00pm. The Biennale combines six sub-exhibitions by independent curators: Maakbaarheid, Refuge, Collective, Community, Reciprocity and Squat.

REFUGE

Curated by Philipp Misselwitz and Can Altay

“Refuge” can imply a safe haven, or the notion of forced displacement, producing spaces that can range from luxurious resorts to overcrowded refugee camps. Spaces of refuge are generated by the desire or necessity to withdraw from the city, to keep out intruders, or to protect and control those inside. In our societies, protective isolation is as necessary as openness, yet when refuge dominates, urbanity is at risk. Focusing on cities in Turkey and the Middle East, this exhibition approaches spaces of refuge from opposing angles: as threats to urbanity that need to be prevented or dismantled, and as intimate, but still undeveloped forms of the Open City. Refuge will present projects from Rome, Istanbul, Beirut, Amman, Cairo, Dubai, Tripolis/ Nahr el Bared, Jerusalem, Diyarbakir, Tbilisi and other sites across Turkey, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Address:

Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAI)

Museumpark 25

3015 CB Rotterdam

For more information please check www.iabr.nl or contact the IABR Service Desk